Amazing Diabetes Advocates: Lexi Newell and Her Blue Shoes

Written by Allison Blass
| Published on March 9, 2012

There are so many amazing folks in the diabetes community who are working day-in and day-out to raise awareness and educate about life with diabetes. Oftentimes, these advocates don't get the attention they deserve, which is why we've launched a brand-new series called "Amazing Advocates" to highlight their work.

This month's AA is Lexi Newell, a D-mom who works as an event planner in Las Vegas, NV, where she lives with her husband and two sons, Justice and Synsyre. Justice was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes three years ago at age six. Last November, Lexi co-founded a new grassroots advocacy organization called The Blue Heel Society, with the mission of "promoting awareness, pursuing the continued fight for a cure, highlighting obstacles people diagnosed with diabetes are faced with, and promoting advocacy for the diabetes community as a whole." Lexi joins us today to tell us all about it:

;

DM) Where did you get the idea to start something called the "Blue Heel Society"?

AN) The way Blue Heel Society evolved was fate, I guess. It was the day before World Diabetes Day 2011. I posted a picture on Facebook of a fabulous pair of Louboutin shoes. They were, of course, blue! A conversation started about the severity of these 6-inch stilettos. I mentioned a walk in "Blue Heels" and how it would be a cool way to raise awareness. Another D-Mom came up with the name instantaneously. Tony Cervati put together the blog and the Blue Heel Society was born! It evolved overnight and became much more than "a walk in Blue Heels." It's bigger than any of us could have dreamed, though The Walk could still happen! Collectively we came up with other avenues to use Blue Heels to raise awareness. And the rest is history!

What does the Society actually do? Does it focus on fund-raising?

We want people to understand diabetes, know that anyone can be affected and that we as a community deserve compassion and understanding. There are so many misconceptions about diabetes, not to mention the blame and judgement that comes with this disease (of any type). We hope to eliminate that! We'd also like to become a staple in the diabetes community, to support one another and assist in anyway we can.

Right now, we are working on implementing state chapters who will be appointed to facilitate BHS events in their area, from corporate fundraisers to tea parties. We have folks from New York, Ohio and Nevada already interested. We are also looking to implement "shoe-ins" where people gather in blue shoes to discuss diabetes. There are a lot of ideas, but because there are so many cooks in the kitchen, things are still being finalized.

Why blue shoes again?

Blue because it's the color that represents diabetes, so that was a no-brainer for us. Heels were chosen because, much like diabetes, from the outside things look fine, even fabulous. But underneath there is pain, discomfort and frustration. It was a perfect fit.

Absolutely! Blue Heels is our name because of the symbolism of the heel. But we know not everyone wears heels, so any blue shoe will do! NO ONE is excluded from BHS. We embrace, welcome and support all people living diabetes or loving and caring for someone with diabetes.

How did you go about creating your organization? Who else is involved?

We formed overnight. We emailed, conference called, worked out logistics for our website, mission etc. We are blessed to have Tony Cervati, a type 1 PWD and endurance cyclist. He takes care of the technical part of BHS and is also our CEO/Co-Founder. Thomas Moore, another Type Awesome who is very active in the DOC, is our Communications Chief and Jen Loving, a fabulous D-Mom who works with JDRF as well as her local community, is our Chief Content officer. We have an awesome team if I may say so!

What does your 9-year-old son with type 1 think about an organization based on blue shoes? Is he into it?

His words exactly when I asked him were: "I think it's very cool and fashionable! I like that it helps people know more about diabetes, and ladies get better heels! You get information about diabetes!"

What's been the most challenging aspect of building an organization?

We are all so passionate about what we do, but we are all so different as well. Working together towards a common goal and in a manner that we all can get on board with is a challenge. But overall, I would say the biggest challenge is finding the time to do everything we want to do. If I could, I would do BHS full-time and never work again! But we will pull together, and make it work.

How did you get involved in diabetes advocacy?

Twitter started it for me! That's how I found the DOC and from there blogging. JDRF is a HUGE part of my life. I'm a JDRF mentor and volunteer. Justice is a youth ambassador and I volunteer for any events I can, like health fairs. In 2010, Sherry from Jenna's Pet Monkey and I created Special Sibling of a D-Kid Day, which is a day in November dedicated to the amazing siblings of kids with diabetes.

If people are interested in getting involved as a BHS chapter head, how can they get in touch?

They can email the Blue Heel Society at 187C@blueheelsociety.org. We also have "shoe box" in the works for the blog, which will have an application.

What advice do you have for folks thinking about starting their own advocacy project?

Do it. It may seem hard, or even impossibly out of reach, but it's not. The DOC is an AMAZING community that embraces new ideas and campaigns with so much love and support. Dare I say they make it easy? It is a lot of work but the benefits are endless. To wake up in the morning and know you made a difference, and changed someone's view of diabetes is a wonderful feeling. I need to quote Gandhi right now, because I believe he said it best: "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

Thanks for all the hard work you do, Lexi! And if you'd like to nominate an Amazing Advocate to be profiled here, please email us at info@diabetesmine.com.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community.
The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines.
For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Close

Add a comment ()

Archived Comments

Stoyan Z.|2012-03-12

Very interesting read! And I totally agree-advocating with the DOC is actually easy, because there are so many people from diverse backgrounds. Even if you struggle with a lot of things yourself, we can all inspire change.

Related posts

Sanofi's Partners in Patient Health diabetes advocacy summit held last week in Washington, DC, offered some good learnings, but in terms of taking action, was more of a question-fest than a place to get any answers, IMHO. That is, we spent a lot...

We are now 94 years after the discovery of insulin, and the hugely popular TV drama series Downton Abbey is giving us a window into the past by weaving that very discovery into its storyline. For those who don't watch the show, or may have missed...

Hopefully you saw our big annual roundup of what the top national diabetes advocacy organizations believe they accomplished in the past year (2014) and what they plan to focus on for 2015.Breaking news: we've just heard from two more influential n...

As we work our way through the list of Patient Voices contest winners who'll be joining us for the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit in a few months, today we're happy to introduce longtime type 1 Kim Hislop in New Hampshire.Residing in Newington wit...

We continue to feature the excellent group of fellow PWDs chosen as winners of the 2014 DiabetesMine Patient Voices Scholarship Contest -- who will all be attending our Innovation Summit at Stanford University on scholarship this November.Today, w...

Send us your feedback

We are unable to respond directly to questions, but your feedback is greatly appreciated, and will be taken into account in our ongoing review of our Health Reference Library.

Your Name:✖Please enter your name

Your Email:✖Please enter your email

Send me a copy

0

Email addresses will not be shared with 3rd parties. See privacy policy

Thank you.

Your message has been sent.

We're sorry, an error occurred.

We are unable to collect your feedback at this time. However, your feedback is important to us. Please try again later.

Close

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Close

Advertisement

Healthline’s mission is to make the people of the world healthier through the power of information. We do this by creating quality health information that is authoritative, approachable, and actionable.

Join more than 30 million monthly visitors like you and let Healthline be your guide to better health.